LECTURE 6 Functional Sentence Perspective FSP Plan

LECTURE 6 Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP)

Plan 1. 2. 3. 4. Sources of FSP Theory of Communicative Dynamism The four factors of FSP The types of FSP units in a communicative field

Where did FSP spring from? Word order, and its communicative function, has been investigated in great detail by the Prague school of linguistics, both before and after the Second World War. This has been done mainly within the framework of theory of Functional Sentence Perspective (= FSP).

How did most researchers in FSP analyse the sentence? Beginning with the founder of the Prague school, V . Mathesius, most researchers in FSP believe that sentences can be analyzed in a binary way into two elements, theme (or topic) and the rheme (or comment). The theme is usually equated with known or given information, while the rheme is identified with new information.

Why is the third element “transition” sometimes added? The theme is also defined in the Prague school as “something that one is talking about, that from which the speaker proceeds”, while the rheme is “what one says about it”. Since it is often difficult to draw a neat line between theme and rheme, transition is sometimes added, and three elements are distinguished, as in the following example:

How did J. Firbas analyse the sentence? Mr. Brown / has turned out / an excellent teacher, theme transition rheme Another solution to the problem is given by Firbas, who replaces the dichotomy of theme/rheme by a scale of “degrees of communicative dynamism” (= CD), which he defines as: “the extent to which the sentence element contributes to the development of the

How did J. Firbas analyse the sentence? (2) communication” (Firbas 1964, 270; 1966, 240). This leads Firbas to the definition of FSP as: “the distribution of (various degrees of) CD over the elements of the sentence” (Firbas 1964, 272). According to Firbas, there is a “basic distribution of CD” which consists of a theme-(transition)rheme sequence.

What does communicative dynamism (CD) refer to? CD refers to the variation in communicative value as btw different parts of an utterance. Parts of a sentence representing given information are said to have the lowest degree of CD: i. e. the amount that, in context, they communicate to addressees is the least. These form theme.

What does communicative dynamism (CD) refer to? (2) Parts representing new information have the highest degree: these form the rheme. Parts which have an intermediate degree are sometimes said to form a transition btw theme and rheme. She / will decide / next week. theme transition rheme Least - rather more - most information

What is FSP for Firbas? FSP for Firbas is the outcome of an interplay between: (i) the basic distribution of CD (word order) , and (2) the context, intonation and the semantic structure of a sentence. Firbas came to the conclusion that apart from word order (which had already been examined in some detail), and apart from context and intonation (which had been taken into account),

What is FSP for Firbas? (2) there is another factor – semantics – which plays an important role in FSP. Firbas introduced a systematic examination of the following four factors of FSP: linearity (word order) semantics (dynamic semantic scales) context (verbal, situational, experiential) intonation (prosodic features)

What is FSP for Firbas? (3) It is the interplay or these four factors that determines the relative degrees of communicative dynamism carried by separate elements, and – in the end – determines their thematic, transitional, In unimpaired communication, the above factors are present anyway (the first three in written communication, all of them in spoken communication), so the language user makes an advantage out of the necessity. or rhematic character.

What is the first factor of FSP? 1. Linearity Czech Tu knihu jsem četl. (T, T – R) theme→rheme sequence = unmarked In languages such as Czech, where the word order is more free than in English, parts with lowest degree of CD tend to come first in the sentence and parts with the highest to come last. It is common to process the information in a message so as to achieve a linear presentation from low to high information value (the principle of end-focus).

What is the second factor of FSP? FIRBAS found out that the relations among the contents of language units operate as an important factor of FSP. He introduced highly abstract semantic functions called dynamic semantic functions, which operate irrespective of word order. They are similar to static semantic functions like ACTOR, ACTION, PATIENT, etc. , but they are more abstract and are dynamic because they may change with the use of the given element in the act of communication.

What is the second factor of FSP? (2) FIRBAS distinguishes two scales of dynamic semantic functions: the Presentation Scale (Pscale) and the Quality Scale (Q-scale). Presentation Scale Rheme Transition Theme Phenomenon → Presentation → Scene (Setting (Existence/Appearance)) A dog barked in the distance.

What is the second factor of FSP? (3) Quality Scale Theme Transition Rheme Theme Quality Bearer → Quality → Specification(s) → Scene Our dog barked yesterday. at our neighbour

What is the third factor of FSP? According to FIRBAS, there are three basic types of context: verbal: I met my teacher. She said. . . (she refers to my teacher) situational: Open the window, will you? (the window, the implicit and the explicit you) experiential: I met Jack Nicholson and Miloš Forman. . . The famous actor said. . . (the famous actor refers to J. Nicholson)

What is the third factor of FSP? (2) The operation of decontextualization is realized by such factors as word order, prosodic features, semantics: It was him! (cf. I saw him. versus I saw him, not her!). According to the extent of the operation of context over a sentence, Firbas distinguishes three instance levels: • ordinary instance (“no operation” of context)

What is the third factor of FSP? (3) In a far-away country a rich king had three daughters. • first instance (partial influence of context) I sent him a letter yesterday. • second instance (all the elements are influenced by the context except one) [You haven’t called Mary as you promised. ] But I did call her! (Yesterday, at seven sharp!)

What is the fourth factor of FSP? It was a well-known fact that prosodic features, especially the intonation centre of the sentence, may influence the placement of rheme of the sentence. that FIRBAS distinguishes • the re-evaluating intonation, changing the FSP status of units (the word with the intonation centre is bold): I go to Prague tomorrow. (to Prague is the rheme)

What is the fourth factor of FSP? (2) I go to Prague tomorrow. (tomorrow is the rheme) I go to Prague tomorrow. (I is the rheme) and the non-re-evaluating intonation, which does not change the FSP status of units: Let him do what he wants to. (what he wants to is the rheme)

What are the results of the interplay of the four factors of FSP? In spoken discourse, the relative degrees of communicative dynamism of the respective thematic, transitional, and rhematic units are given by the result of the interplay of all the four factors: linearity, semantics, context, and prosodic features. In written discourse, the result of the interplay seem to be influenced by mere three factors: linearity, semantics, and context.

What is the first type of FSP units? 1. Thematic units Theme proper (Thp) is the least dynamic unit of the respective field. It is usually expressed by the minimum grammatical form possible (it in the following examples): Charlie explained it to me in five minutes. Other units of this type are called theme proper oriented themes (to me):

What is the second type of FSP units? 2. Transitional units Transition proper (Trp) is a unit that constitutes the communicative field in the very moment of communication, it also sets the type of field. In the following example, Trp is represented by the temporal ending of the verb -ed, by the absence of other temporal or modal indications, and by the full stop at the end of the sentence: Charlie explain-ed it to me in five minutes.

What is the third type of FSP units? 3. Rhematic units Rheme proper (Rhp) is the most dynamic unit of the field. Any element may become rheme proper. Rhp is often expressed by PHENOMENON (in the case of a Presentation Scale) or by SPECIFICATION (in the case of a Quality Scale): A dog barked in the distance.

Why does Halliday reject the terms topic/comment and their equation with theme/rheme? He rejects the terms topic and comment and their equation with theme and rheme. He argues that theme/rheme must not be identified with given/new, although they may fall together. The former dichotomy concerns an aspect of what he calls “thematic structure” while the latter concerns “information structure”.

How is information structure expressed? Halliday claims that information structure, in English, is expressed by intonation and word order. Depending on context, the signal of focus is ambiguous: in (6 a) the extent or scope of the new information concerns the entire clause, in ( 6 b ) only the predication, and in ( 6 c ) only the last element. (6 a) (What's on today? ) We're going to the RACes (6 b) (What are we doing today? ) We're going to the RACes (6 c) (Where are we going today? ) We're going to the

What is FSP? RACes. It refers to an analysis of utterances (or texts) in terms of the information they contain, the role of each utterance part being evaluated for its semantic contribution to the whole. The notion of ‘CD’ has been developed as an attempt to rate these different levels of contribution within a structure, particularly with reference to the concepts of rheme and theme.

Plan 1. 2. 3. 4. What are the sources of FSP? Why has the notion of ‘CD’ been developed? What are the four factors of FSP? What types of FSP units in a communicative field do you know? 5. How is information structure expressed?